WELCOME TO THE GENERAL FACTION
Here, in this section, all general events including current affairs, technology updates are discussed.
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The new global power lineup for 2010 also predicted that New Delhi's clout in the world will further rise by 2025, according to "Global Governance 2025" jointly issued by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) of the US and the European Union's Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).
Using the insights of a host of experts from Brazil, Russia, India and China, among others, and fictionalised scenarios, the report illustrates what could happen over the next 25 years in terms of global governance.
In 2010, the U.S. tops the list of powerful countries/regions, accounting for nearly 22 percent of the global power.
The U.S. is followed by China with European Union at 16 percent and India at eight percent. India is followed by Japan, Russia and Brazil with less than five percent each.
According to this international futures model, by 2025 the power of the U.S., EU, Japan and Russia will decline while that of China, India and Brazil will increase, even though there will be no change in this listing.
By 2025, the U.S. will still be the most powerful country of the world, but it will have a little over 18 percent of the global power.
The U.S. will be closely followed by China with 16 percent, European Union with 14 percent and India with 10 per cent.
"The growing number of issues on the international agenda, and their complexity, is outpacing the ability of international organizations and national governments to cope," the report warns.
This critical turning point includes issues of climate change, ethnic and regional conflicts, new technology, and the managing of natural resources.
The report also highlights the challenges proponents of effective global governance face.
On one hand, rapid globalization, economic and otherwise, has led to an intertwining of domestic politics and international issues and fueled the need for more cooperation and more effective leadership.
But on the other hand, an increasingly multipolar world, often dominated by non-state actors, have put a snag in progress toward effectual global governance, it said.
According to market research firm iSuppli, the wireless subscriptions in India are expected to be more than 97 percent in the 1.26 billion population.
The first four months of 2010 alone witnessed an addition of 19 million new subscribers. In fact, by end of this year, the total wireless subscriptions are projected to reach 766.0 million. This is an increase of 49.5 percent from 2009?s subscriber count of 525.1 million.
iSuppli forecasts show that this pace will be continuing in the future as well. It adds that the number of subscribers will increase in the next four years and will touch the 1 billion mark by 2012. By 2014, mobile teledensity - a measure of cell phone availability - likely will reach 97.4 percent per 100 persons.
"Such high mobile teledensity means that almost everyone - except children and the abjectly poor - will have a cell phone in India, with those having multiple mobiles boosting total subscription rates and compensating for those without," said Jagdish Rebello, Ph.D., Senior Director and Principal Analyst for Wireless Research at iSuppli.
The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for mobile handsets in India will reach 18.6 percent from 2009 to 2014.
Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM) offers its popular BlackBerry services in India through the networks of local mobile phone operators such as Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices. India has been worried that the heavily encrypted BlackBerry services such as messenger and corporate email could be used by terrorists and has asked RIM to come up with tools to allow India's security agencies to monitor those services.
The networks were tested by a joint team of the operator security agencies and RIM the first person told Dow Jones Newswires. Both people said the testing reports were considered as "compliance" reports.
Syntel's founder Bharat Desai is the top Indian in the list ranked at 252th position with a net worth of $1.6 billion. He founded outsourcing outfit Syntel in 1980 with wife, Neerja Sethi, while earning his MBA from University of Michigan. Although he stepped down as Chief Executive Officer last year, Desai remains the chairman. Desai earned his engineering degree from IIT Mumbai and moved to the U.S. after landing a programming job for Tata Consultancy Services in 1976. The Florida resident launched a deep value hedge fund last year and recently established foundation supporting entrepreneurship and education.
Venture capitalist Kavitark Ram Shriram occupies the 288th position with assets worth $1.45 billion. Shriram is the founding board member of Google and one of the first investors in the company. "Shriram was one of the first people to write a cheque to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. He would advise them one day a week in their Menlo Park garage," Forbes said. The University of Madras alumnus is still a board member and large shareholder of the search giant. The California-resident is now running his own investment firm, Sherpalo Ventures, which has big stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer. It has also invested recently in Inkling, which makes interactive textbooks for the iPad. The 53-year-old was elected Stanford University trustee last December.
Romesh Wadhwani, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Symphony Technology Group is on the 290th spot in this year's list with a total valuation of $1.4 billion. Symphony Technology Group is a private equity firm investing in software and software services company. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Wadhwani moved to the United States in 1969 and earned a PhD in electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. The 62-year-old California resident founded software firm Aspect in 1991. "Wadhwani rode tech bubble onto The Forbes 400 in 1999 with $9.3 billion sale of Aspect Development software firm to i2 Technologies," Forbes said.
Sun Microsystems Co-Founder Vinod Khosla occupies the 308th spot in the list with fortunes worth $1.3 billion. Silicon Valley venture capitalist Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982. "Khosla had a very good year. SKS, the Indian microfinance lender he backed in 2006, went public in August; his personal stake was worth a recent $90 million," Forbes observes. He joined Sun investor John Doerr at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1996 and started Khosla Ventures in 2004. His firm raised $1.1 billion in 2009, the most by a venture firm in 3 years.
The other prominent members in the top 10 are Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison and Charles Koch. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, stands at the 35th rank and has witnessed a 245 percent increase in his wealth and his assets are estimated at $6.9 billion. The top 10 on the list gained $24.9 billion. The price of admission to the list is back up to $1 billion from 2009 when $950 million was enough to make it to the top 400.
Twitter Chairman Dorsey said that social networking sites allowed one person's view or advice to become global and noted that the technology was so simple and inexpensive "that anyone can access it. because there was so much information available discovering what's the most important and what's relevant is one of the biggest challenges of technology.
Ratan Tata, Chairman of India's oldest conglomerate Tata Sons said, "Technology is going to be very much the enabler and the driver of changing the quality of life and changing the level of livelihood of people around the world."
To attend Clinton's meeting, commitments must be made to tackle economic empowerment, education, environment and energy, and health. More than 300 pledges valued at more than $6 billion have been made so far this year.
India ranked third among most powerful nations
India is listed as the third most powerful country in the world after the U.S. and China and the fourth most powerful bloc after the U.S., China and the European Union in a new official U.S. report.The new global power lineup for 2010 also predicted that New Delhi's clout in the world will further rise by 2025, according to "Global Governance 2025" jointly issued by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) of the US and the European Union's Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).
Using the insights of a host of experts from Brazil, Russia, India and China, among others, and fictionalised scenarios, the report illustrates what could happen over the next 25 years in terms of global governance.
In 2010, the U.S. tops the list of powerful countries/regions, accounting for nearly 22 percent of the global power.
The U.S. is followed by China with European Union at 16 percent and India at eight percent. India is followed by Japan, Russia and Brazil with less than five percent each.
According to this international futures model, by 2025 the power of the U.S., EU, Japan and Russia will decline while that of China, India and Brazil will increase, even though there will be no change in this listing.
By 2025, the U.S. will still be the most powerful country of the world, but it will have a little over 18 percent of the global power.
The U.S. will be closely followed by China with 16 percent, European Union with 14 percent and India with 10 per cent.
"The growing number of issues on the international agenda, and their complexity, is outpacing the ability of international organizations and national governments to cope," the report warns.
This critical turning point includes issues of climate change, ethnic and regional conflicts, new technology, and the managing of natural resources.
The report also highlights the challenges proponents of effective global governance face.
On one hand, rapid globalization, economic and otherwise, has led to an intertwining of domestic politics and international issues and fueled the need for more cooperation and more effective leadership.
But on the other hand, an increasingly multipolar world, often dominated by non-state actors, have put a snag in progress toward effectual global governance, it said.
97 percent of Indians will own a cellphone by 2014
With number of cellphone makers and network providers growing by the day in India, it is only a natural thing that more and more Indians will own a cellphone. Now this thought is backed by a survey.According to market research firm iSuppli, the wireless subscriptions in India are expected to be more than 97 percent in the 1.26 billion population.
The first four months of 2010 alone witnessed an addition of 19 million new subscribers. In fact, by end of this year, the total wireless subscriptions are projected to reach 766.0 million. This is an increase of 49.5 percent from 2009?s subscriber count of 525.1 million.
iSuppli forecasts show that this pace will be continuing in the future as well. It adds that the number of subscribers will increase in the next four years and will touch the 1 billion mark by 2012. By 2014, mobile teledensity - a measure of cell phone availability - likely will reach 97.4 percent per 100 persons.
"Such high mobile teledensity means that almost everyone - except children and the abjectly poor - will have a cell phone in India, with those having multiple mobiles boosting total subscription rates and compensating for those without," said Jagdish Rebello, Ph.D., Senior Director and Principal Analyst for Wireless Research at iSuppli.
The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for mobile handsets in India will reach 18.6 percent from 2009 to 2014.
Airtel & Tata Tele Send BlackBerry Compliance Reports to DoT
Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices have sent compliance reports to India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT), confirming they have upgraded their networks to allow local security agencies to intercept and monitor messenger messages sent through BlackBerry smartphones.Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM) offers its popular BlackBerry services in India through the networks of local mobile phone operators such as Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices. India has been worried that the heavily encrypted BlackBerry services such as messenger and corporate email could be used by terrorists and has asked RIM to come up with tools to allow India's security agencies to monitor those services.
The networks were tested by a joint team of the operator security agencies and RIM the first person told Dow Jones Newswires. Both people said the testing reports were considered as "compliance" reports.
Four Indian-Americans among the wealthiest in U.S.
Showcasing the economic prosperity of the Indians in the U.S., four Indian-Americans have made it to the list of 400 wealthiest Americans. Forbes list of 400 Richest People in America is topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates with assets estimated at $54 billion.Syntel's founder Bharat Desai is the top Indian in the list ranked at 252th position with a net worth of $1.6 billion. He founded outsourcing outfit Syntel in 1980 with wife, Neerja Sethi, while earning his MBA from University of Michigan. Although he stepped down as Chief Executive Officer last year, Desai remains the chairman. Desai earned his engineering degree from IIT Mumbai and moved to the U.S. after landing a programming job for Tata Consultancy Services in 1976. The Florida resident launched a deep value hedge fund last year and recently established foundation supporting entrepreneurship and education.
Venture capitalist Kavitark Ram Shriram occupies the 288th position with assets worth $1.45 billion. Shriram is the founding board member of Google and one of the first investors in the company. "Shriram was one of the first people to write a cheque to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. He would advise them one day a week in their Menlo Park garage," Forbes said. The University of Madras alumnus is still a board member and large shareholder of the search giant. The California-resident is now running his own investment firm, Sherpalo Ventures, which has big stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer. It has also invested recently in Inkling, which makes interactive textbooks for the iPad. The 53-year-old was elected Stanford University trustee last December.
Romesh Wadhwani, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Symphony Technology Group is on the 290th spot in this year's list with a total valuation of $1.4 billion. Symphony Technology Group is a private equity firm investing in software and software services company. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Wadhwani moved to the United States in 1969 and earned a PhD in electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. The 62-year-old California resident founded software firm Aspect in 1991. "Wadhwani rode tech bubble onto The Forbes 400 in 1999 with $9.3 billion sale of Aspect Development software firm to i2 Technologies," Forbes said.
Sun Microsystems Co-Founder Vinod Khosla occupies the 308th spot in the list with fortunes worth $1.3 billion. Silicon Valley venture capitalist Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982. "Khosla had a very good year. SKS, the Indian microfinance lender he backed in 2006, went public in August; his personal stake was worth a recent $90 million," Forbes observes. He joined Sun investor John Doerr at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1996 and started Khosla Ventures in 2004. His firm raised $1.1 billion in 2009, the most by a venture firm in 3 years.
The other prominent members in the top 10 are Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison and Charles Koch. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, stands at the 35th rank and has witnessed a 245 percent increase in his wealth and his assets are estimated at $6.9 billion. The top 10 on the list gained $24.9 billion. The price of admission to the list is back up to $1 billion from 2009 when $950 million was enough to make it to the top 400.
Internet to foster economic growth in developing nations
An ability to collaborate on global development using Internet communication was one of the most fundamental advances since the Industrial Revolution. Internet technology will be the next area that drives economic growth and enables poor countries to develop at a faster pace than rich nations. Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and other business leaders agreed to it at the Chambers of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's philanthropic summit in New York.Twitter Chairman Dorsey said that social networking sites allowed one person's view or advice to become global and noted that the technology was so simple and inexpensive "that anyone can access it. because there was so much information available discovering what's the most important and what's relevant is one of the biggest challenges of technology.
Ratan Tata, Chairman of India's oldest conglomerate Tata Sons said, "Technology is going to be very much the enabler and the driver of changing the quality of life and changing the level of livelihood of people around the world."
To attend Clinton's meeting, commitments must be made to tackle economic empowerment, education, environment and energy, and health. More than 300 pledges valued at more than $6 billion have been made so far this year.
U.S. government is not anti-Indian, it's the difference in GDP growth
The series of issues like H1B visa fee increase and some proposed measures and rhetoric against outsourcing, has created a common notion in the business scenario that the Obama government posses an anti India feeling. PepsiCo's Chairperson and CEO, Indra Nooyi has a different look to it. She was among the business leaders consulted by U.S. President Barack Obama during his election campaign and after he reached the White House.
Nooyi, who was the Chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council for two years before she stepped down this April, also said the relationship between the U.S. and India "is the best it's ever been". She added that "the president's visit to India is a historic event, and both on the Indian side and the U.S. side, we have to figure out how to use this visit to the advantage of both countries".
In a recent conversation with the Indian media personals Obama said, "When you have a country where you have to create jobs and going through an economic downturn, and you're dealing with another partner where the GDP growth is very robust, issues like this are bound to come up. This is inevitable and we just have to deal with them one-off. This isn't an anti-India statement."
Nooyi also criticized the current state of infrastructure in India. She said lack of infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges for industries trying to invest in India. India needs to tackle quickly the quality of skilled manpower. "The manpower that we get, even if they have an MBA degree or an engineering degree, unless they come from the top tier of schools, are not as qualified as they need to be," she said.
Nooyi, who was the Chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council for two years before she stepped down this April, also said the relationship between the U.S. and India "is the best it's ever been". She added that "the president's visit to India is a historic event, and both on the Indian side and the U.S. side, we have to figure out how to use this visit to the advantage of both countries".
In a recent conversation with the Indian media personals Obama said, "When you have a country where you have to create jobs and going through an economic downturn, and you're dealing with another partner where the GDP growth is very robust, issues like this are bound to come up. This is inevitable and we just have to deal with them one-off. This isn't an anti-India statement."
Nooyi also criticized the current state of infrastructure in India. She said lack of infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges for industries trying to invest in India. India needs to tackle quickly the quality of skilled manpower. "The manpower that we get, even if they have an MBA degree or an engineering degree, unless they come from the top tier of schools, are not as qualified as they need to be," she said.
Video Transcript: Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte LLP - A Place of OpportunityWhat’s different about us? |
Greetings.
I’m Barry Salzberg, the CEO of Deloitte U.S.A. — a place of opportunity, whether you’re a potential client, or a potential employee.
Consider my own story.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I was educated there, too, with a degree in accounting from Brooklyn College and a degree in law from Brooklyn Law School.
Deloitte was my first professional job. And when I started in 1977, I thought I might stay… um, maybe a year or two. Yet here I am, some eight jobs and almost 32 years later — running the place. And why I stayed is precisely because of what Deloitte offers — an opportunity culture, in which everyone has a shot.
Today, here in the U.S., we have some 45,000 professionals, who are part of a global network of 165,000 people working in member firms around the world.
And our job? We help organizations solve their toughest problems. And we help them solve them seamlessly and globally…whenever…however…wherever. Specifically, we offer cutting-edge services and expertise — and industry knowledge — in four key business areas:
Audit and advisory service
Financial advisory services ,Tax services,Consulting services
I’m Barry Salzberg, the CEO of Deloitte U.S.A. — a place of opportunity, whether you’re a potential client, or a potential employee.
Consider my own story.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I was educated there, too, with a degree in accounting from Brooklyn College and a degree in law from Brooklyn Law School.
Deloitte was my first professional job. And when I started in 1977, I thought I might stay… um, maybe a year or two. Yet here I am, some eight jobs and almost 32 years later — running the place. And why I stayed is precisely because of what Deloitte offers — an opportunity culture, in which everyone has a shot.
Today, here in the U.S., we have some 45,000 professionals, who are part of a global network of 165,000 people working in member firms around the world.
And our job? We help organizations solve their toughest problems. And we help them solve them seamlessly and globally…whenever…however…wherever. Specifically, we offer cutting-edge services and expertise — and industry knowledge — in four key business areas:
Audit and advisory service
Financial advisory services ,Tax services,Consulting services
At Deloitte, people from all kinds of backgrounds find a people culture in which they have the freedom and flexibility to grow. Not only in their careers but in other areas of life. Here people also can be proud to work for a leading corporate citizen committed to our local communities and the environment.
No wonder Deloitte is regularly ranked in Fortune, BusinessWeek and Working Mother as one of the best places to work and start a career. It’s a testament to our collaborative culture that respects diversity and celebrates achievement.
So, now for the big question: What’s different about us? It’s this: We offer more than just smart advice. At Deloitte, we pride ourselves on helping clients EXECUTE on our advice. We make it happen. Time after time.
And we never forget we’re in the TALENT business. People are our most precious asset, and it is their passion that lies at the heart of our commitment to always be a step ahead…by delivering three critical qualities:The ability to ANTICIPATE — to see tomorrow’s needs today.
The ability to be PRAGMATIC — to see things through to completion.And we’re RELENTLESS ― driven to be the very best, today and tomorrow.
No wonder Deloitte is regularly ranked in Fortune, BusinessWeek and Working Mother as one of the best places to work and start a career. It’s a testament to our collaborative culture that respects diversity and celebrates achievement.
So, now for the big question: What’s different about us? It’s this: We offer more than just smart advice. At Deloitte, we pride ourselves on helping clients EXECUTE on our advice. We make it happen. Time after time.
And we never forget we’re in the TALENT business. People are our most precious asset, and it is their passion that lies at the heart of our commitment to always be a step ahead…by delivering three critical qualities:The ability to ANTICIPATE — to see tomorrow’s needs today.
The ability to be PRAGMATIC — to see things through to completion.And we’re RELENTLESS ― driven to be the very best, today and tomorrow.
So, if you’re looking for great services—or looking for a career—take it from me. Deloitte offers a whole world of possibilities.
Almost limitless possibilities.
All around the world.
Thanks for listening.
Almost limitless possibilities.
All around the world.
Thanks for listening.
India to see strong hiring trend in next 3 months
Employers in India are planning to hire at a robust pace in the next three months and public administration, education and services sectors are expected to see strong recruitment trends, says a survey.Globally, India is the most optimistic in terms of recruitment intentions for the fourth quarter, after China and Taiwan, according to staffing services firm Manpower's Employment Outlook Survey released today.
The job market remains robust in India as a result of strong domestic growth and recovery from key global markets.
But employers in other countries are reporting strong hiring forecasts, as well," Manpower India's Managing Director Sanjay Pandit told PTI.
India's net employment outlook -- an indicator of employers' hiring intentions -- stood at 38 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis, for the next three months. For the third quarter, the outlook stood a little higher at 41 per cent.
Recruiters predict an increase in new jobs by 2010
More than 700 recruiters across India are predicting that there will be an addition in new jobs, replacement hiring in the second half of 2010. 73 percent of the recruiters have predicted addition of new jobs, 55 percent expect replacement hiring whereas three percent expect a freeze and two percent anticipate layoffs.
In a recent survey conducted by Naukri.com, the hiring scenario in India seems to be good this year. There has been a change in opinion over a year as in a survey of the similar nature conducted in July 2009 had revealed that only 45 percent of the recruiters anticipated new jobs during the second half of 2009.
"Employers began recruiting at a steady pace in the first half of 2010 and confidence levels were high. The survey findings indicate sustainable new job opportunities in the remainder of the year and job seekers can look forward to a favourable hiring environment," said Sumeet Singh, Senior Vice President- Marketing and Corporate Communications, Info Edge.
The survey also revealed on the range of increments given out to employees in 2010. 30 percent of the employers surveyed said that the range of increments was within 15 percent to 20 percent and an equal percentage said that it was 10 percent to 15 percent. While 25 percent of employers indicated increments within five percent to 10 percent, only 10 percent employers said that increments were over 20 percent. With the much desired rebound in the job market, increments seem to be back on track across sectors.
Regarding the attrition level, most recruiters pegged attrition levels to be under 20 percent with the exception of ITES. But, what was interesting to observe was that 11 percent of the recruiters surveyed acknowledged attrition rates to be within 20 percent to 30 percent and four percent pegged attrition rates to be within 30 percent to 50 percent in their organizations.
Through this survey, one can figure out that the employment scenario is quite positive and the hiring process is quickly picking up.
Facing staff crunch, IITs propose hiring foreign faculty
Facing shortage of teaching staff in the wake of capacity augmentation, IITs have proposed to appoint foreign nationals to its faculty positions.The move, if accepted, could enable the prestigio us institutes to appoint foreign teachers on permanent positions which could be up to 10 per cent of the faculty strength, said IIT officials.
The proposal is expected to be deliberated at the next IIT council meeting here on Friday.
IITs have contended that the presence of foreign faculty on IIT campuses will benefit graduating students in the globalised world, besides lending a true international flavour in the campuses and reducing brain drain.
Appointment of foreign faculty could also give a boost to IITs' plan to enrol foreign students for the post-graduate programme. IITs have already requested the HRD Ministry to enrol foreign students to the extent of 25 per cent of the total student strength.
"IITs are now being increasingly recognised internationally as attractive destination for students. This perceived superiority needs to be leveraged to the fullest extent as expeditiously as possibly," the officials said.
They said that US varsities have benefited by attracting faculty from across the globe and India cannot afford to lose the chance to attract the best talent in teaching and research.
The HRD Ministry had recently permitted IITs to hire Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) as permanent faculty after an initial vetting process.
The IIT council meeting could also finalise plans to set up 'centre of studies' devoted to a foreign country with a view to develop expertise on countries of strategic importance.
Each IIT, the officials said, could concentrate on a particular country. As in the US, such centres will be available for advising the Government especially in terms of strategic negotiations.
The recommendations of the Prof Acharya Committee on streamlining and rationalising JEE examinations and the prospects of a two-tier examination process will also be discussed at the meeting.
Rural India Internet users to touch 5.4 Million in 2010
The number of active Internet users in rural India will swell to 5.4 million in 2010, a growth of 30 percent from 3.3 million in 2008, according to a research study jointly conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB).
Active Internet users are those which have gone online in the last 30 days. The study also reveals that after communications, 67 percent of rural users access music and video over the Internet.
About 48 percent of the people claim to have used the Internet for educational research and 42 percent claim they used it for general information search.
The report further highlights that about 13 percent of the people use the Internet for knowing more about latest farming techniques and 8 percent of the people use the Internet to find out more about fertilizers and pesticides.
"This is an important point to note considering the importance of farming in rural India. If there are Internet-related initiatives with farming as a focus, these could certainly trigger Internet literacy to rise faster," the report added.
India and Russia to jointly build 6,000 Kmph speed missile
India will soon become the first country to have cruise missiles with hyper speed of over 6,000 km per hour, as an agreement for their joint development will be signed with Russia during the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev here in December.
The first unit of Kudankulam nuclear plant, built by Russia in Tamil Nadu, will also be commissioned during the visit slated to begin from December 21.
Medvedev will be undertaking the visit for annual India-Russia Summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during which the two sides will discuss ways to further enhance their relations in various fields.
One of the highlights of the visit would be signing of a contract for joint development of hypersonic version of the BrahMos cruise missile, Defence Ministry sources said.
This version of the missile will have a speed of over 6,000 kms per hour, making India the only country in the world to possess such missiles of this speed.
The speed of the existing variant of BrahMos is half than that of the proposed ones.
With a range of 290 kms, the hypersonic missiles are expected to be ready by 2015-16, the sources said.
The much-delayed first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant is also expected be made operational during the visit of Medvedev, who will be visiting the site for the purpose, they said.
The commissioning of the 1,000 MW Kudankulam-I, work on which began three years back, will set in motion the roadmap that the two countries are working on in the field of atomic energy cooperation.
Under the roadmap, a number of nuclear reactors would be set up by Russia in India.
Four of the reactors are envisaged to be established in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and one in Haripur in West Bengal, with scope for more in future.
The proposal to set up a Russian nuclear plant in Haripur is facing resistance from local people, but the government is hopeful of convincing them about its utility and allay their apprehensions.
The second unit of Kudankulam power plant will be made operational within six months of commissioning of the Unit-I.
During the visit of the Russian President, a number of other defence deals are also expected to be signed.
India is the Sponge that is Protecting America and the Western World!
Mumbai terror attacks and that a Mumbai-like attack on
In fact, I was shocked when President Barack Obama said that he would go after the Al Qaida. I was surpirsed that the USA USA USA has ruffled feathers only in Afghanistan and that there is no threat to the USA
The United States of America , the United Kingdom , Israel and scores of their allies who teamed up against Iraq and Afghanistan and their stands on Gaza , Iran US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
The bomb blasts in the Mariott Hotel in Islamabad last year exposed the vulnerability of citizens belonging to the USA USA , the UK , Israel
No matter how many attacks were carried out in India USA
The anger vented by the Iraqi television journalist on George Bush is also indicative of a simmering resentment against the USA North West Frontier Province in Pakistan may elicit reactions from Taliban that the USA once helped raise to drive out the Russians from Afghanistan US intervention Afghanistan
The main terror outfits that the USA
As local support for terror from across the border wanes in India USA
It is just that India Pakistan for crushing terror outfits in Pakistan were diverted for terrorist attacks on India USA
The Mumbai terror attacks mark a watershed in terror attacks on India
For decades, the USA just refused to lend an ear to what India USA
But, now, the USA
In fact, the USA US London India may have been the sponge that protected the USA
INDIAN IT COMPANIES ARE GETTING MURDERED BY HR PERSONNEL AND US PRESIDENT
India was proud with the growth of IT industry in metro cities and the famous Silicon valley in US.US President Obama's announcement on minimum jobs for Indians and hiking the visa fees has upset many IT companies.Even now many Indians are not on proper visas and they are held up in US that they do not have entry in their own country and not even an identity in the country in which they have migrated to.The alarming fact now is if these migrants return India will be in bad shape and there will be huge employment problems for the freshers and the employed.Hiring US educated and employed candidates was a fashion and trend for IT companies and many who had spend almost the same or more amount to get their degrees and PGs are kept on hold giving way for the US returnees.
Today mornings TV breaking news that the HR Manager of INfosys group has mudered his wife was really shocking.Like I have mentioned in my previous blogs,HR department is spreading terror filled with full of crookedness and cunningness, naming there are few exceptions.I know one HR personnel of a famous company in bangalore who has got real politics with another HR manager of the same company.MNCs have to be very careful when they hire HR personnel who are the core of the company and they recommend recruitment of candidates on certain criterion.There should be thorough investigation on the candidates decorum and the past demeanour and behavioural changes,personality declination all should be considered a major criterion.Circumstances cannot be a major excuse.Recently I happened to see an HR person giving a verdict to the employees that those who announce boycotting work on holidays on social network will be punished according to company norms.
These kind of strict decisions will make employees leave the firm as well as an encroachment of their freedom of expression and privacy.A group of people not planning to work for a particular day cannot be warned like this.They have the eligibility to go on leave.Again if they act malicious to quit or affect the work culture or make loss for the company then they are accountable.One day leave wont make much difference.If the employees are not given enough time to relax their mind, they will become notorious human beings.The pressure from home,office all this is making humans behave inhuman.
We cannot encourage such killers in the industry anymore.We have heard of many incidents like this recently.Couples in the IT sector committing suicide,killing each other and getting murdered (send by goondas by professional rivals) which appears as murder at night while driving back home.How long shall we wait for this degradation of human values which is a big question mark for the security of human life?Men are becoming devils of this century ,real psychos,deserving no pardon and women are becoming victims of all abusals,cruelty and harassment.Test your leaders during tough times
It is during the tough time when we get to see the real worth of our leaders. During the period of boom in an economy, every leader seems to be competent because people are caught up in the pace of high growth and its rewarding results, reports Sangeeth Varghese of Economic Times.If one goes back to history, then it can be realized that effective leaders who can mobilize people, tackle tough problems and can figure out opportunities during crises are more flexible in times of stress, change and uncertainty.
According to McKinsey, nearly 40 percent of the leading U.S. industrial companies toppled from the first quartile of their sectors during the 2000-01 recession. A third of leading US banks met the same fate. Ironically, during the same time, 15 percent of companies that were not industry leaders prior to the recession, vaulted into that position. Bad times are good times for people who have the resolve to emerge leaders.
One of the good examples is Barun Kumar 'Bicky' Chakraborty, who went to Sweden and started tinkering around with his entrepreneurship dreams but was unfortunately caught up in a slowing economy.
To make his dream come true, he mobilised some resources to start a pub, because he realised that during recession time professionals did not want to go to expensive restaurants.
"I opened pubs when the economy was slow and gloomy. I cashed in on the gloom", he says. Today, he has 30 pubs, owns Sweden's most popular chain of budget hotels and pubs and is one of the richest men in Scandinavia.
Job-hopping not a good idea to reach the top
Executives are always guided by the notion that moving from company to company will help them to get ahead in their career. But the chances are more to get the promotion if you stay more years with the same company.Monica Hamori, Professor of Human Resource Management at IE Business School in Madrid, however, contradicts the popular notion. She believes that switching employers cannot be a way to reach the top jobs. In a study she has found that it is a career fallacy. The notion that professionals get ahead faster by switching companies is reinforced by career counselors, who advise people to keep a constant eye on outside opportunities. But the data show that footloose executives are not more upwardly mobile than their single-company colleagues.
Hamori's analysis of the career histories of 1,001 CEOs who lead the largest corporations in Europe and the U.S. reveals that CEOs have worked, on average, for just three employers during their careers. And although lifetime employment is increasingly rare, a quarter of the CEOs spent an entire career with the same firm. Overall, the more years people stayed with a company, the faster they made it to the top. She has also analyzed the job changes of 14,000 non-CEO executives to compare the outcomes of their inside and outside moves. Inside moves produced a considerably higher percentage and faster pace of promotions. Internal candidates do better because companies know more about them. Promoting an insider poses less risk than hiring somebody from the outside, no matter how extensive the CV or how detailed the reference.
Executive search firms, even if they are in the business of shuttling professionals from job to job, show a preference for stability. One U.S. boutique firm specializing in IT evaluates candidates on two axes, stability and "performance and capability indicators." Candidates have to score well on both to be selected for interviews. A consultant at another firm opined that a short stint - less than three years or so - probably wouldn't be sufficient to produce any meaningful contribution to a firm and thus wouldn't do much to demonstrate a candidate's value. Search consultants also tend to interpret frequent moves as a sign of bad decision making, whereas long organizational tenure is rarely seen as reaching a plateau.
Indian teens make washing machine with junks, runs without power
"The junk materials include a discarded plastic bottle, which we used as a box to wash clothes. A pulley is attached to the plastic bottle to run the machine. The pulley moves with the help of kinetic energy and helps to wash clothes," explained Agarwal, who wants to be a scientific innovator.
"Our idea is to do away with electricity and come up with an alternative. The washing machine can be useful in big textile industries. We're planning to give our idea to one of India's leading garment manufacturing units," said Siyal, who too wanted to pursue research works in the field of science.
In another such example of innovation, four students of Outreach school, under the guidance of their Physics teacher developed an 'Earthquake predictor'. "The earthquake predictor is nothing but a borewell. The borewell is attached to a buzzer. The buzzer makes sound if the underground water level increases, which means that the movement of lava in the underground is moving at a faster rate, an indication of the likelihood of an earthquake. The fast movement of lava will force the water level to increase, which in turn will make the buzzer give out signals," said Subramanian K, a student.
Fresh PhDs opt teaching as a career
There has been a tremendous growth in the number of students, who are opting teaching as an option in their career. A lot of fresh doctoral students from IIMs are now getting lured by this profession after the recessionary pressure felt by the global economy and the implementation of sixth pay commission, reports Avinash Nair of Economic Times.
The trend is quite prominent in the faculty recruitment that happened recently at some of the smaller IIMs. IIM-Indore has recruited around 20 fresh PhDs from the top three IIMs in the last one year, whereas IIM-Shillong has opted to recruit fresh passouts from IITs. IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Kozhikode have also recruited PhDs from the IIMs.
?A few years ago, the number of PhDs choosing to join academics was hardly 50%. There were significant numbers of students who used to opt for an opening in the industry. However, after the recession and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, academics has suddenly become more attractive. The numbers of students opting to take up teaching as a career has now risen to 80 percent,? says Abraham Koshy, a senior faculty at IIM-A.
IIM is no doubt an attractive destination for the doctoral students to be employed and at the same time, grooming home bred talents becomes easier for the reputed institutes. ?In the last one year, we have recruited about 22 faculty. About three-four of them are from the US, while the rest are from the top IIMs. All of them are young and energetic,? says N Ravichandran, director, IIM-Indore.
On being asked about fresh doctoral students being tapped by the institute, Ravichandran said, ?Who else is available? Moreover, there is a talented crop of young fellows who pass out every year from the top IIMs.?
The Director?s comment seems to fit the opinion of Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal. As per Sibal, about 25 percent of faculty positions within the IIMs were lying vacant and the government had initiated various long-term measures to attract young people to take up teaching as a career option.
19th Commonwealth Games theme song uploaded
After the crunch period of 2009, the private banking industry, which caters to high net worth individuals, is once again in growth mode.
The survey, commissioned by PR firm Eulogy! India and conducted by B2B customer information management company Blue Sheep, shows that Indian directors account for more than one in 10 non-British directors in the UK under the age of 30.MEA reaches out with Twitter to users' surprise
Over a month after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) debuted on Twitter, the response from denizens of the fast-growing social networking site has generally been welcoming, although tinged with some surprise that the stodgy Government of India was finally waking up to the power and reach of new media.MEA's public diplomacy division created its Twitter account, indiandiplomacy, on July 8. It has since written 94 tweets - some of them being links to press releases and speeches and others being interactions with the tweeting crowd.
By August 14, there were 1,972 people who had linked up to the MEA website, purely through word of mouth and media reports.
A recent press release on Indian aid to Pakistan - the note was sent out through Twitter - was circulated widely in twitterland, including among the Pakistani 'tweeple'.
"Perhaps for the first time Twitter is having such an a/c (account) from any Govt. Of India dept. We the people feel honoured," Kaushik Dutta, an insurance executive, tweeted in appreciation of 'indiandiplomacy' July 11.
Similarly, Swamitra Singh from Kanpur gave his own welcome. "I heard about you via news. Now I am so happy that government is doing something for us."
There was however a bit of confusion on how MEA will use this account. "Does this mean I can send grievances to you and it will actually be sorted out?" asked Faisal from Mangalore.
There was an immediate response from the ministry official manning the Twitter account. "We may not be able to sort out grievances but we will certainly bring it to the attention of those dealing with the subject," said 'indiandiplomacy'.
Besides, some users were interested in knowing how Indian diplomats, known for their verbal skills, will adapt to the minimalism of Twitter.
"How will govt babus talk in 140 chractors. Used to writing 14000 page documents," asked a Twitter user with the handle 'iArifsyed'. The MEA's reply: "We should not be prejudged."
Several foreign governments, notably those of the U.S. and Britain, use social media like Twitter and Flickr to reach out to younger people and have got encouraging response.
U.S. President Barack Obama's splash in the Gulf of Mexico was first put on White House Flickr page to give the messsage to Americans and the rest of the world that the BP oil spill-hit Gulf Coast is open for business..
PSUs confused with IIT, IIM grading systems
For several years, India's centers of excellence, IIMs and IITs have graded their graduates based on a Western system-the cumulative grade point (CGP) index. Now a section is moving to a more conventional marking system, based on percentage, after Indian public sector undertakings have asked the IIMs and IITs to provide an equivalent of their grades by giving percentages, reports Hemali Chhapia from The Times of India.
Each institute, autonomous in nature, has its own grading system. Most IITs award a cumulative performance index on a scale of one to 10 but IIT-Kanpur does not award odd-number grades. And, among the IIMs, those in Ahmedabad and Bangalore award a CGPA on a scale of one to four-like American universities-but IIM-Calcutta grades its students on a range of one to nine points. This, according to PSUs, creates a lot of confusion and hence the move to ask for a more conventional grading system.
However, just like the current varied marking system, the decision to move to percentages too has elicited divergent responses among India's premier educational institutes. Some are internally drawing up an equivalence and will publish that on the report card. Other institutes don't feel the need to carry out such an exercise.
Professor in charge of placements at IIT-Bombay Ravi Sinha said, "Each PSU has its own human resource (HR) policy and they want us to provide our grade equivalence for the minimum threshold level, which they can interpret." So, IIT-Bombay, "keeping in mind students' interest,'' in its senate, decided to flesh out an equivalence so that a "system of conversion equivalence should emerge from reliable data as well as a clear and unambiguous basis to stand the test of time''.
But most NITs have asked the PSUs to either devise their conversion table or refer the matter to the All-India Council for Technical Education. "I have a method of grading my students and the PSUs should draw up their own method of assessing the graduates they hire. We have referred the case to the AICTE," NIT-Nagpur director S S Gokhale said.
IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua too said converting grades into percentage was "no easy answer". IIT-Delhi Chairman (placement) Kushal Sen confirmed that such a request had come from PSUs but "there is no way we can convert CPI to percentages."
Many IIMs, however, have already designed a formula to convert CGPA to percentage. "PSU recruiters last year had the same request. They wanted us to provide the corresponding percentage for our CG. We did provide an approximation to them, which was close to being accurate,'' IIM-Bangalore placement officialSapna Agrawal said.
Sources in IIM-Calcutta too said that a rough formula had been devised for PSUs. "If a student has bagged a 5 CGPA, we convert it to percentage by multiplying it by 100 and dividing it by the maximum CGPA achievable, 9," an official said.
According to most institutes, the PSUs have shown greater interest in recent years in recruiting graduates from centres of excellence. "PSUs have now come up with a suitable job description and packages as well so students too have been interested in their offers," added Agrawal.
But, for most institutes, the decision to shift to the Indian academic method of awarding percentages is not going to be easy. "We merely hope that the PSUs do not stop visiting our campuses," said a placement head.
Indians abroad returning home to teach India!
A new trend seen emerging amongst Indians abroad is that the young Indians are leaving their jobs there to return home and take up teaching in Indian higher education institutions. This may be boon for a country that lacks in quality lecturers.The trend can be fallout of the expansion of the higher education in the country. India has opened eight new Institutes of Technology (IITs), 12 central universities and three Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the last two years.
Other reasons for the reverse brain drain include opportunity to work in one's own country, job insecurity abroad and increasing research funding. The young academicians say they have greater academic freedom and better working conditions here in India.
Case in point, Rahul Ribeiro, 36, an engineer, went to the U.S. for further studies and is now back to India and is working as an Assistant Professor at IIT Delhi. Having worked as a marine engineer for a few years, Rahul joined Texas A&M University and had no plans to come back to India soon. "I wanted to work in biomedical sciences," says Rahul, a PhD in materials science and engineering. "I have ambitious plans and want to develop material that can replace tissues in the body."
Then one day he came across an advertisement for faculty positions at IIT Delhi. He recorded his application through a presentation and sent it, which was followed by a telephonic interview and he was in.
With better opportunities, and growing demands for good faculty across major institutions in India, it is just about time that more Indians return home from abroad.
About one Million green jobs to be generated in India
Around one million green jobs will be generated in India over the next two years, according to estimate headhunters. In 2008, a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report has highlighted that by 2025 India will see the creation of nine lakh green jobs in the area of biogas alone, an Economic Times report says.
Green jobs, as defined by UNEP, refers to work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development or administrative activities that contribute to preserving environmental quality, and help in protecting the ecosystem and biodiversity. They may include architects designing energy-efficient buildings, organic farmers in villages, environmental engineers or even plumbers installing water-recycle systems. While green architecture, mechanical and chemical engineering, biotechnology and environmental management are the most lucrative and sought-after professions in the new, green sector, policy-making for renewable energy and natural resources management is not far behind.
The Suzlon group, a pioneer in exploring renewable energy sources, has signed an MoU with TERI University in March 2009, to institute an MTech in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management. Rajeev Seth, its Registrar, says the need for sustainable development has sensitized a corpus of scientists, managers and leaders to the importance of environmental protection. From just 48 students in 2006, the university now has 260, with the promise of an average pay packet of Rs. 4.5-5 lakh per annum up from Rs. 2.5 lakh in 2006. "Almost all our students have been placed in companies like TCS, Reliance Infrastructure and IL&FS, and are involved in green activities," adds Seth.
One of the biggest future recruiters in green jobs is likely to be real estate, with green buildings coming up fast. A recent study by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) estimates that 45 million square feet of additional green building-space in India will be ready by 2012. Companies like Wipro, Microsoft, Cognizant, TCS, Infosys and Oracle are either operating - or planning to - from green offices, revealed the study. "There will be a huge demand for people who can certify green buildings, and architects and project planners who are adept in green building norms," said JLL head (research & intelligence service) Abhishek Kiran Gupta.
For those looking for an alternative career, the green sector offers various opportunities. Working with an NGO, or a training programme on sustainability, can help one gain the necessary perspective. Organisations like ACC Cement, Ecosmart, SGS India, TCS, Reliance Energy and M&M offer internships and may even recruit the interns.
Unfortunately, Green jobs are still not considered as lucrative. And that's mainly because of a lack of awareness, said Sonam Madav, who did a postgraduate programme in sustainability from the University of Leeds. While entry-level salaries are about Rs. 3.5 to Rs. 4.5 lakh per annum, packages in the mid-level can vary from Rs. 14-20 lakh and a senior professional could even command anything between Rs. 45 and 60 lakh, said Balaji of MaFoi.
Men make better bosses
A new study among the employees in UK found that the majority are of the opinion that female bosses are a nightmare to work with. About 3,000 men and women were questioned for the research, with three-quarters of men agreeing that they would rather work for a man than a woman.A quarter of women accused female bosses of backstabbing and bringing their personal lives into the office. And a third of those polled said women with power are 'loose cannons' who often feel threatened by colleagues.
"Incredibly both men and women are in total agreement that men make better bosses - 63 percent of women and 75 percent of men," the Daily Mail quoted David Brown, of online recruitment firm www.UKJobs.net, which commissioned the research, as saying.
"This indicates that while women are more than capable of progressing to a management role, some lack some of the key skills required to be a good boss. No one is suggesting that women aren't intelligent enough to be in senior positions, far from it, but perhaps-some need to be more approachable and less competitive," Brown said. "People want to go to work knowing they will be given a fair chance and are supported 100 percent by those they work with and for," he added.
About fifteen percent of the workers questioned said female bosses were too 'sharp tongued' and a third said it was obvious when it was their 'time of the month' because of mood swings. Other negative assessments included them being 'too cliquey', too competitive and spending too long worrying about their appearance. Forty percent said men were more able to distance themselves from politics and bitching and 14 percent said they found them more reasonable than women.
Those who prefer a female boss said they did so because women are more approachable, friendly and understand when workers need time off to look after their children.
Craze for plastic surgery puts India in top five
India ranks among the top five nations for cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures. The universal desire to look good seems to be firmly rooted in the Indian shore. U.S took the first place followed by Brazil and China came in second and third positions. Currently India is in the fourth place according to a recent survey.
The statistics, released by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, shows that cosmetic surgery is becoming popular in countries with emerging economies, such as India and China. ISAPS President Foad Nahai in Atlanta said, "Countries like China and India with emerging economies are generating a lot wealth and as that wealth is passed around, people are choosing to spend their discretionary income on aesthetic procedures."
Doctors largely agree with the assessment but point out that growth is not in absolute number but in percentages. S. Keswani, Plastic Surgeon says that one cannot say that numbers in India have drastically gone up. It has only gone up relatively in comparison to the past."
There is certainly a big change in terms of preferences, say doctors. While rhinoplasty or a nose job was the favourite surgical procedure in India, it is no longer the case. In fact, like with the U.S., the most popular procedure is liposuction or surgical removal of fat tissues. Incidentally, liposuction has for the first time replaced breast augmentation as the number one plastic surgery procedure in the U.S.
"In India, too, the demand for liposuction has increased, along with hair transplant and breast augmentation. The reasons for the increased can be techniques are easily available in metro towns. People are aware of them. Most importantly, people have more disposable income than before to spend on looking good," added Keswani.
Indians dress smartest for work, Europeans most casual
Indians are found to be the smartest when it came to work attire with 58 percent donning a suit or other smart clothing for work. Only 21 percent said it was fine to wear shorts.A study on 12,500 people in 24 countries found that Europeans are the most casual when it comes to work clothes with only 27 percent wearing a business suit or smart clothes to work, according to a global Reuters/Ipsos poll on business attire.
Indians particularly did not see casual dressers rising up the ranks, with 64 percent saying they would not make senior management and 58 percent describing casual dressers as slackers.
India was followed by Saudi Arabia where 51 percent ruled out casual dressers making senior management with France coming third at 45 percent. South Korea and China were ranked below India respectively. Hungary came bottom of the table with only 12 percent of workers saying they wore a suit or smart dress to work.
"It's clear that around the world dressing to your place in the hierarchy is more often the case than dressing to the elements," said John Wright, a senior vice president at market research company Ipsos.
Indian engineer designs matchbox-sized inverter
Subrata Datta, a Hyderabad-based engineer, has invented a matchbox-sized device that can power homes even during power cuts. The inverter can power TV, computer or fridge.Datta, employed at the R&D Center, CMC Ltd, explained his device saying, "The V-inverter can be installed in and connected to the meter box of one's house. It can be controlled and regulated by the electric supply department. So whenever there's a greater demand for power, high voltage electrical gadgets like air-conditioners will automatically switch off. Only basics like fans, lights, TV, computer, refrigerator and life saving instruments would work by reducing the consumption of power in the entire neighbourhood."
The V-inverter does not require any secondary power source like the normal inverters or generator. This reduces cost, investment maintenance, pollution and emission associated with fuel-based generators, reg ular inverters and lead-acid batteries.
Installing this V-inverter is also very easy. The unit cost of the energy of the V-inverter power is less than general inverters or fuel based generators as it comes at the cost of regular supplied power.
Added Datta, "This load controlling device can restrict the crisis time consumption by each consumer, at a limited power output (150 Watt) to improve the balance of demand-supply ratio and avoid total power cuts."
Terminate corrupt officials immediately: Committee
Officials indicted with corruption will have a tough time holding on to their jobs as a high-level committee has directed such officials to be terminated right away. This will come more into force for Group A and B, and Class I and II services, reports Vineeta Pandey of DNA.Among other recommendations made by the committee include putting a fast track system into place to penalize high ranking central government and all-India services officers charged with corrupt practices or lack of integrity.
However, even after their acquittal, the bureaucrats can avail all the benefits related to seniority and service.
The committee added that employees who admit to their guilt should be considered for a lenient sentence. However, those charged of graft and lack of integrity do not come under this purview. The committee also added a 10 to 50 percent cut in pension and forfeiture of gratuity to offending officials who are awarded compulsory retirement as a penalty.
The committee's suggestions also empower the inquiry officials to prevent delays in the disposal of disciplinary inquiries. They can also command their authority to ensure attendance of witnesses and production of documents.
P.C.Hota, former UPSC Chairman, who headed the high level committee said, "To ensure that innocent officers do not get penalized, dismissal of officers should be cleared by a high-level committee headed by a high court judge. There can be a brief trial to check if the case is fit for dismissal and the officer can make representations before the committee to prove innocence."
The committee was constituted by the ministry of personnel public grievances and pensions to review the procedure of disciplinary/vigilance inquiries and recommend measures for their expeditious disposal. It comprises of experts such as former vigilance commissioner P Shankar and former secretary of the department of personnel and training Arvind Varma.
The committee also recommended amendment in the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) to mandate prior sanction for prosecution of government servants even after their retirement bringing it on a par with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) process.
Other suggestions by the committee include establishment of states vigilance commissions on the lines of the central vigilance commission and monitoring cells in each department/ministry to review the progress of all disciplinary inquiries.
In its report to the government, the committee said, "In cases of abuse of power by the disciplinary authority, if the chief vigilance commissioner believes that the proposal to initiate the inquiry was baseless, he may advise punitive action against the disciplinary authority. This would ensure that there is responsible exercise of power by the disciplinary authority and witch-hunting of honest government servants would be prevented."
India among the most popular malware destinations
India features among the countries where malware spam, or anything that comes with a virus or Trojan attachment urging you to visit an infected website, a new report has said.According to the McAfee Threats Report, Colombia, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam are the other countries in this category.
Argentina had the most variety in spam, with 16 different topic areas, ranging from drugs to lonely women to diplomas. Italy came in with the least variety, with just six types of spam, it said.
The report uncovered that malware has reached its highest levels, making the first six months of 2010 the most active half-year ever for total malware production.
At the same time, spam levelled out with only 2.5 percent growth from Q1 2010. Malware continued to soar in Q2 2010, as there were 10 million new pieces catalogued in the first half of this year.
Consistent with last quarter, threats on portable storage devices took the lead for the most popular malware, followed by fake anti-virus software and social media specific malware.
With approximately 55,000 new pieces of malware that appear everyday, globally AutoRun malware and password-stealing Trojans round out the Top Two malware threats, the report said.
After reaching its highest point in Q3 2009, with nearly 175 billion messages per day spam rates have hit a plateau.
Cybercriminals took advantage of anticipation on and hype of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and used various methods to promote scams and search-engine "poisoning".
Globally, the most popular types of spam varied from country to country with some interesting findings.
For instance, delivery status notifications, or non-delivery receipt spam, were the most popular in United States, Italy, Spain, China, Great Britain, Brazil, Germany and Australia.
Malware spam, or anything that comes with a virus or Trojan attachment urging you to visit an infected website, was the most popular in Colombia, India, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam.
"Our latest threat report depicts that malware has been on a steady incline in the first half of 2010," said Mike Gallagher, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Global Threat Intelligence for McAfee.
"It's also obvious that cybercriminals are becoming more in tune with what the general public is passionate about from a technology perspective and using it to lure unsuspecting victims", he added.
IT, BPO exports to increase by 13 to 15 percent in FY'11
National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has announced the findings of its annual survey saying that Indian IT-BPO exports are to grow by 13 to 15 percent while domestic IT-BPO is expected to grow by 15 to 17 percent during FY'11.Nasscom also released the annual rankings for the following categories, for FY09-10: Top 20 IT software and service exporters in India (excluding BPO revenues), top 15 BPO rankings and top 20 IT-BPO employers in India.
TCS is the top company in IT-BPO exports. (See tables). According to Nasscom, the Indian IT industry will witness healthy growth this year, led by growth in the core markets and supplemented by significant contributions from the emerging markets.
Growth drivers include a thrust on platforms like BPO, analytics, finance and accounting, remote infrastructure management, ADM, and cloud services. The Indian IT-BPO industry is expected to exceed $70 billion in FY'11.
The industry headcount addition is expected to double this year to touch 2,00,000 new employees, leading to 2.5 million direct employment. Speaking on the launch Nasscom President Som Mittal said, "The year 2010 should be considered as a 'return-to-growth' year with marginal increase in budgets and essential enterprise IT spending. NASSCOM will continue to facilitate and collaborate to support the industry's growth, as it embarks in the next decade. We visualise a broadening of our role - one that entails greater collaboration across markets, sectors and within India."
Acer, RCom introduce Netbook with embedded wireless broadband
Reliance Communications and Acer announced the launch of a Netbook with Embedded Wireless Broadband connectivity. Acer's latest Netbook, Aspire One523h will come with inbuilt Reliance Netconnect Broadband Plus services with speed up to 3.1 mbps. The Netbook is priced at Rs. 19,499 (excluding tax) and also has an initial offer of Reliance broadband worth 20GB for free as complimentary pack for first two months.
Talking to the reporters, S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India said, "Acer's embedded broadband Netbook comes with a multitude of attendant benefits like longer battery-life, convenience, tighter integration, security and lower TCO. With this new model we expect our customers can use Acer netbook and excellent browsing experience using reliance Broadband Netconnect."
When asked about Acer's plans on smartphones in Indian market, he said that the company has already formed a group which is working on the project and he anticipated the introduction of Acer smartphones in the next quarter of the year. He further stated that Acer aims to be a key player in the smartphone market.
R. Swaminathan, Hub Head - Karnataka Circle, Reliance Communications said, "Collaborating with a leading giant in laptops, Acer, we are taking the innovation to a new level whereby the customer will experience even more convenience."
The Netbook is optimized for running media applications like video conferencing, video streaming, electronic surveillance, online multiplayer games and file transfers. The embedded broadband Netbooks connectivity is available in 66 cities at a speed of 156 Kbps, across 25000 towns and 6 lakh villages on Reliance's CDMA network.
Railway restricts online ticketing, Cos concerned
Three digital payment companies, Itz Cash Card, Suvidhaa and OSS Retails (Done Card) have issued a joint statement expressing concern over the new Indian Railways policy from IRCTC, barring them from booking online tickets from 8 am to 9 am. The company's representatives are planning to meet IRCTC to ask them to reconsider their decision, reports Nikhil Pahwa from MediaNama.
The IRCTC had recently proposed that web service agents would not be allowed to book tatkal tickets from 8 am to 9 am, as well as any ticket for the first one hour when the advance 90 day reservation of any train opens up. According to this report in the Financial Express, the IRCTC did this because consumers would complain about the IRCTC website crashing as soon as booking began in the morning, and the "tatkal" quota would get exhausted within minutes. Tatkal tickets are reserved for passengers who need to travel urgently, and are up for purchase two days before the journey. Typically, tickets on the Indian Railways are sold off/booked rather quickly, and trains are often overbooked. The web allows these tickets to be booked with a little more convenience.
According to the Itz Cash, Suvidhaa and Done Card, around 100,000 web service agents have been impacted by this move. ITZ Cash Card accounted for 894,980 transactions on IRCTC in June 2010, while Done Card accounted for 164,176 and I Cash Card accounted for 243,874. In total, they accounted for 1,303,030 transactions, around 14.68 percent of the total IRCTC transactions in June. These companies have franchise networks, and rail ticketing accounts for a substantial proportion of their business. By way of a compromise, they have suggested that a certain quote be reserved for online ticketing initially.
From Oct 31, switch companies without changing cell number
New Delhi: The telecom regulator said on Thursday that mobile number portability (MNP) will be implemented nationwide from October 31, ruling out any further delay.
The MNP is a service that allows a mobile user to change his operator while retaining the number.
"There will be no further delay in the implementation of MNP," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman JS Sarma said in New Delhi.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) had said on Wednesday that the operators must ensure that all inter-operator tests for porting the numbers from one service provider to another are completed before September 1, 2010.
The DoT made it clear to all telecom operators that in case they fail to implement MNP as per the scheduled deadline, they will be barred from launching any new commercial services from September 1.
"It has been decided that permission to launch commercial service in any area with effect from September 1, 2010 shall be given to only those licensee(s) who are MNP compliant," said a DoT note.
Mobile service providers - Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone Essar, Tata Tele, Idea, STel and Aircel - are getting ready to launch high-speed 3G services from next month.
State-owned telcos Bharat Sanchar Nagar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited have said they are ready with the infrastructure to implement the MNP service.
The earlier June 30 deadline for the implementation of MNP was deferred as the operators were not ready with the infrastructure to provide the service.
The MNP was to be implemented by December 31, 2009 in all the metro cities as well as in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The deadline was then changed to March 31, 2010 and thereafter to June 30, 2010.
Asked about the rolling out of 3G services, Sarma said: "I see no reason to believe that there would be any delay."
The MNP is a service that allows a mobile user to change his operator while retaining the number.
"There will be no further delay in the implementation of MNP," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman JS Sarma said in New Delhi.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) had said on Wednesday that the operators must ensure that all inter-operator tests for porting the numbers from one service provider to another are completed before September 1, 2010.
The DoT made it clear to all telecom operators that in case they fail to implement MNP as per the scheduled deadline, they will be barred from launching any new commercial services from September 1.
"It has been decided that permission to launch commercial service in any area with effect from September 1, 2010 shall be given to only those licensee(s) who are MNP compliant," said a DoT note.
Mobile service providers - Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone Essar, Tata Tele, Idea, STel and Aircel - are getting ready to launch high-speed 3G services from next month.
State-owned telcos Bharat Sanchar Nagar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited have said they are ready with the infrastructure to implement the MNP service.
The earlier June 30 deadline for the implementation of MNP was deferred as the operators were not ready with the infrastructure to provide the service.
The MNP was to be implemented by December 31, 2009 in all the metro cities as well as in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The deadline was then changed to March 31, 2010 and thereafter to June 30, 2010.
Asked about the rolling out of 3G services, Sarma said: "I see no reason to believe that there would be any delay."
Stop all 3G services: Home Ministry asks DoT
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the Department of Telecommunications to direct service providers to stop the operation of all third generation mobile services across the country, 'particularly in Jammu & Kashmir', till the infrastructure to enable full tapping of lines is put in place.Noting BSNL's launch of 3G services in Jammu, the ministry said apart from problems in interception of video calls, the existing lawful tapping infrastructure is severely limited in providing usable intercepts.
In a communication to Telecom Secretary P J Thomas, the Ministry of Home affairs stated, "The feasibility of blocking all such services for which there is no demonstrated monitoring capability to provide lawful interception may be explored by DoT. Till a solution is arrived, all telecom service providers may be directed not to provide 3G services, particularly in Jammu & Kashmir."
The Telecom Department had asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited to have call monitoring facilities to enable security agencies to intercept the calls in 3G mobile services last year.
BSNL had launched 3G services in Jammu last month and was planning to expand it. BSNL had demonstrated its interception facilities in Jammu, which the security agencies found was unable to offer intercepts of the widely used Internet services on account of their proprietary encryptions/protocols, according to the communication.
It should be noted that the issues has a greater importance now as the DoT is already in negotiations with Research in Motion, the makers of BlackBerry, for a solution to intercept BlackBerry data.
Govt. selects TCS to automate the emigration system
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been selected by the ministry of overseas affairs to implement a project to computerize and automate the emigration system. The project, which is expected to be worth Rs.100 crore, will enable the automation of the clearance process by electronically linking the offices of the Protector-General of Emigrants. It is to facilitate the tracking of all Indians on work visas abroad and provide support services to them, reports Surabhi Agarwal and surabhi from The Mint.A TCS spokesperson refused to comment, saying that the company doesn't comment on specific deals. Once the award is made, TCS will develop and deploy the required technology over a year. The project also involves providing five years of maintenance support.
TCS has been selected for the project. "It will be formally announced in a couple of weeks," said an official of the ministry of overseas affairs.
One of the 27 mission mode projects under the national e-governance plan, which envisages automating delivery of key government-to-citizen services, it proposes the introduction of biometric-based identification of foreign nationals coming to India to keep track of them.
According to the ministry of overseas affairs website, the project is aimed at "achieving greater user convenience and effective protection and welfare of the emigrant."
The subsidiary benefits of the project, the website adds, would include greater levels of efficiency, transparency and accountability in the emigration system, facilitation of legal emigration and prevention of illegal emigration.
The project will involve phased inter-linking with recruiting agents, employers, immigration counters, Indian Missions abroad, insurance companies and state governments, among others.
Human brain on a microchip
Canadian scientists have developed a microchip that 'communicates' with brain cells, which they claim could help patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. They have successfully connected brain cells to a silicon chip that can "hear" conversation between brain tissues.The neuro-chip, which has been developed by medicine scientists at the University of Calgary, will network brain cells and thus record brain cell activity at a resolution never achieved before, according to Naweed Syed who led the team that made the breakthrough.
The neuro-chip will help future understanding of how brain cells work under normal conditions and thus permit drug discoveries for a variety of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, a university statement said on Tuesday.
"This technical breakthrough means we can track subtle changes in brain activity at the level of ion channels and synaptic potentials, which are also the most suitable target sites for drug development in neuro-degenerative diseases and neuropsychological disorders," Naweed Syed, who is professor and head of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, has been quoted as saying.
The new neuro-chips are also automated.
"Previously it took years of training to learn how to record ion channel activity from brain cells, and it was only possible to monitor one or two cells simultaneously. Now, larger networks of cells can be placed on a chip and observed in minute detail, allowing the analysis of several brain cells networking and performing automatic, large-scale drug screening for various brain dysfunctions," the university statement said.
The University of Calgary is excited at the potential of this made in Canada technology, said university vice president Rose Goldsmith.
"The University of Calgary is proud to be the home of this cutting edge Canadian work with a neurochip. The advances in research and healthcare made by possible by this technology are immense. The work and collaboration happening in the lab of Naweed Syed is another example demonstrating our leadership in the field of biomedical engineering."
The new technology has been published online this month in the journal, Biomedical Microdevices.
Wipro sets up India's 1st Bluetooth test facilty
Global software major Wipro Technologies has been recognized as India's first Bluetooth qualification test facility by the Bluetooth trade association.Bluetooth is an open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short length radio waves) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security.
The recognition makes Wipro competent to perform Bluetooth qualification conformance or compliance tests, the company said in a statement here.
"We will test products submitted by members of the Bluetooth special interest group at our test lab in the electronics city campus. The tests will also include Bluetooth protocol conformance," said Wipro vice-president C.P. Gangadharaiah.
Bluetooth qualification is the certification process required for any product using Bluetooth wireless technology and a pre-condition of the intellectual property (IP) license for Bluetooth technology.
"India is known for its strong software expert pool. Many profiles and protocol stacks of Bluetooth-enabled products were developed in India. This market is influential in the Bluetooth original equipment manufacturer (OEM) automotive market and in the Bluetooth mobile advertising," Bluetooth chief technology officer Andy Glass said in the statement.
Bluetooth technology has expanded beyond headset and mobile phone applications to high-growth market segments, including health and fitness and gaming.
"Gaming is the second largest application in terms of Bluetooth shipments. About 1,000 new Bluetooth enabled product designs were evolved and over 3,000 Bluetooth enabled products were tested and qualified in 2009," Glass added.
18 foreign banks keen to set up shop in India
The Reserve Bank is processing applications of 18 foreign banks, which have shown interest in setting up branches and representative offices in the country, Parliament was informed on Tuesday."As on date, applications by RBI from 18 foreign banks for opening maiden branch/representative office are under various stages of progress", Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
"As on June 30, 2010", Meena said, "more than 300 foreign bank branches are present in the country."
Responding to a query on whether allowing foreign banks setting up base in India would effect domestic banks, he said the RBI was preparing a discussion paper on the impact and would take some time before coming up with the final recommendations on granting new licences to banks.
"As the global financial markets started to improve. It was announced in the RBI Annual Policy Statement 2010-11 to prepare a discussion paper on the mode of presence of foreign banks through branch or wholly-owned subsidiary by September 2010", Meena said.
When asked whether the RBI had decided to review the status of financial sector to see if it was ready for further liberalisation, Meena said that the system needed to grow in size and sophistication.
He said that besides this, there was a need to extend the geographic coverage of banks and improve access to banking services.
"In this context, it was announced that the RBI would be considering giving some additional licences to private sector players including non-banking financial companies, if they met the RBI's eligibility criteria", he added.
Corporate America slams U.S. move to hike visa fee
In what could be seen as a significant support to India's demand, corporate America slammed the U.S. legislation to hike visa fee for highly skilled professionals, saying it discriminates against Indian companies and would undermine burgeoning economic and strategic ties between the two countries."This legislation seeks to raise revenue for broader border security by taxing mostly Indian companies that are investing heavily in our country," said US-India Business Council (USIBC) President Ron Somers.
The "discriminatory" bill against foreign companies would undermine investment relations with India as it would largely hurt Indian IT professionals coming to the US on H-1B and L-1 visas, Somers noted.
The House of Representatives Tuesday passed the bill which proposes to raise the fees on H-1B visas for companies who have more than 50 percent of their employees on such visas for highly skilled professionals from $320 to $2,320. Similarly the fee on L visas given to multi-national transferees is hiked from $320 to $2,570.
The Senate had passed a similar plan last week. But since the House version passed in a voice vote is slightly different, it will go back to the Senate for final congressional approval before being signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The bill, Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, seeks to raise $600 million to secure the US-Mexico border.
"It is unfortunate that the Congress passed a bill that not only links India to border security with Mexico, but also does not take into account the terrible economic impact this will have for the United States," Somers said.
"The Bill imposes substantial and discriminatory fee increases on global information services companies that utilise temporary, non-immigrant visas (H-1 and L-1) to bring in skilled professionals to serve US companies," he said.
USIBC urged the Congress and the Obama Administration to "amend this new funding method for border security and any policies that would harm America's economic interest and undermine the burgeoning economic, trade and strategic relationship with India."
The Washington-based USIBC represents some 350 American companies, including many in Fortune 500 list, like Boeing, Wal Mart, PepsiCo and General Motors and Lockheed Martin that do business in India.
USIBC also expressed outrage over a prime mover of the bill Democrat senator Charles Schumer calling Indian IT major Infosys a "chop shop"- the term often used for the place where stolen cars are dismantled for resale.
"It is totally outrageous in this day in age, when the world is so interconnected by the Internet, that draconian measures would be floated by the US Congress that tar brushes Indian companies as 'chop shops'," Somers said in a statement.
Coming down heavily on various other moves in the US to restrict the movement of high-tech professionals and outsourcing to India, Somers said: "Our companies are creating value around the clock thanks to tie-ups with India, keeping us ahead of the global competition."
"Cutting our nose off to spite our face by imposing restrictions on movement of high-tech professionals will hobble American companies' ability to compete in the global marketplace."
Philanthropy - A new status symbol for the wealthy
Philanthropy is a growing status symbol of the rich in U.S. as 40 of its billionaires pledge their fortunes to charity. It has reached to a state where being wealthy could be about how much money one is giving away, reports Routers.Investor Buffett and Microsoft founder Gates are urging American billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or upon their death by signing the Giving Pledge.
Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy said, "It will be something that's very important to the wealthy - to be able to say: I give my money away as much as I spend it in all these other exciting ways."
"Clearly pressure on the elite is high right now to say that they are giving money away and that will make it trendy," she said. "People who have enough money to give away but maybe haven't thought about that...those folks will want to do what Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are doing."
While experts in philanthropy say recognition is not a key motivation for people to give, some say it would not be a bad thing if philanthropy became a greater badge of honour among the rich.
According to the estimates, with the wealth of the 40 members of the Giving Pledge, at least $150 billion could be given away.
"The true measure of the wealthy should be their generosity", said Bradford Smith, president of the Foundation Center. "If philanthropy is indeed becoming the new status symbol of the wealthy it will do a lot more to change the world than buying Gucci bags," he said.
A 3rd of Indian civil servants want to step down: Survey
A survey shows that a third of respondents considered resigning from the Civil Services due to better opportunities elsewhere and other reasons, parliament was told Wednesday.Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan said the Civil Services Survey 2010 showed that about 33 percent of respondents considered quitting the services at some time or the other.
This was mainly "because of better opportunities outside the government and disappointment about lack of recognition", Chavan told the Lok Sabha.
The minister was responding to B.B. Patil and two others who wanted to know that one of out of three top officers in Civil Services had sought to quit his/her job as reported in the media.
Chavan said: "The survey indicated that 85 percent of the respondents feel that they have enjoyed their work in the Civil Services and are proud of being in the Services."
"It also comes out that postings and transfers, performance appraisal, opportunities for deputation, timely promotions, and corruption rank high among the concerns of Civil Services."
The minister said copies of the survey had been sent to cadre controlling authorities and states for follow up action.
He said among the measures being considered to remedy the situation were formulating a bill on setting Civil Services standards and accountability as well as introducing reforms in Civil Services examination.
P=NP riddle solved? Indian scientist proposes proof
A scientist named Vinay Deolalikar at Hewlett-Packard (HP) Labs in California has come up with a possible proof for the famed P=NP problem in mathematics. The feat can make him earn $1 million (Rs. 4.6 crore) for solving one of the seven Clay Mathematics Institute Millennium Problems, reports Samanth Subramanian of Mint.
In an email to his fellow researchers Deolalikar wrote that he had made several unsuccessful attempts trying other combinations of ideas before he began this work.
Before accepting by the mathematical community, the paper needs to be published in a major refereed journal. It has to be accepted by the mathematical community within two years of publication for Deolalikar to collect his Clay prize.
According to Stephen Cook, who has written the official description of the P=NP problem for the Clay Institute, Deolalikar has made a serious claim to have solved P vs NP.
The P=NP problem is a meta-problem with particular relevance to computer science. The 'P' in this equation refers to a class of problems; if the time needed to solve a problem does not grow exponentially with the data given, the problem is a type-P problem. An NP problem, on the other hand, is one for which you can check whether a proposed solution is really a solution in reasonable time.
The P=NP problem questions whether an NP problem is the same as a P problem. In other words, if a problem has solutions that can be verified in polynomial time, then can the problem also be solved in polynomial time?
Ever since the problem was stated, independently, by Cook and Leonid Levin in 1971, mathematicians have thought that P does not, in fact, equal NP - but no acceptable proof of that inequality has been found.
Deolalikar's proof, which seeks to establish that P is not equal to NP, has, in only a few days, churned up considerable excitement within the mathematical community.
Deolalikar's proof will be the second of the seven Millennium problems to have fallen within the last few years, if it is published and finds the 'general acceptance' that the Clay Institute requires.
Right to education project granted Rs. 2.3 Lakh Crore
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Human Resource Development ministry would be allocated Rs 2.31 lakh crore over the next three years to set up infrastructure for implementing the Right to Education."The HRD minister has said that Rs 2,31,000 crore will be required for implementing RTE in the next three years for setting up schools, appointment of teachers and building of infrastructure. I said that the money will be provided," Mukherjee said at a seminar here.
Mukherjee's comments come against the backdrop of a government decision recently to embark upon a nationwide consultation process with stakeholders to overcome teething troubles in implementing the Right To Education (RTE) Act.
The first meeting will be held on August 14, in which all issues pertaining to implementation of the law will be discussed, HRD minister Kapil Sibal had told reporters here recently.
Coming: symbol to flag junk calls on your cell, so easier to ignore
You will soon get to know if a particular call on your mobile is from a telemarketer. The telecom regulator is likely to ask service operators to prefix such calls with a symbol to indicate these are from a telemarketing company.
Sources said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will soon issue regulations that will make it mandatory for companies to inform subscribers of the "unsolicited" nature of telemarketing calls.
"If it is not possible to ban such calls, the subscriber must have information that it is a telemarketing call, and the option to disconnect such a call," said an official.
On May 11, TRAI had issued a consultation paper on the regulation of "unsolicited commercial communications". Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's frustration over one such call on Monday during an important meeting with Opposition leaders in Parliament prompted Telecom Minister
A Raja to write a letter to his Secretary to take quick action.
TRAI chairman J S Sarma today met senior officials from Tata Tele-Services Ltd (TTSL) and advised them to stop selling text messages in bulk to telemarketers who target millions of subscribers randomly. TTSL and Aircel are two of the biggest players in this business, industry sources said. While the total market for short messaging services (SMSs) is about Rs 300 crore, revenues from bulk telemarketing SMSs accounts for only a small portion.
Efforts by the regulator and the government to curb unsolicited calls by setting up a "Do Not Call" registry have had little success. Many subscribers find it cumbersome to list themselves in the DNC and while telemarketers are required to scrub DNC numbers before bulk SMSing, there's no way to check if they really do so.
The regulator will conduct an open house on August 18 on shifting to a "Do Call" registry. Here, subscribers can choose to inform telemarketers about their willingness to accept calls by registering themselves in the "Do Call" list for a specified period.
Indian cos' hiring to mount 30 percent this year
With banking, IT and FMCG sectors leading the industry, corporate India's hiring activity is likely to suepass 30 percent mark this year, said global workforce solutions provider Kelly Services.
"Overall, across the main 7-8 key verticals studied by us, an average 30 percent rise in hiring activity is likely this year as compared to the last year. Expansion plans of firms, revival in attrition rates and taking on board recruitment managers indicate a strong recruitment phase in the next six months," Kelly Services Managing Director Kamal Karanth told media.
Kelly Services today released a study on employment conditions and salaries across key sectors, which aims to guide organisations in their workforce planning.
The Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2010-11 revealed there is an increased demand for talent at mid-senior levels and even fresher levels, particularly in Banking, IT and FMCG, sectors.
"Fresh recruitments in banking and IT industry are likely to increase by 40-50 percent this year compared to the last year, while FMCG may see a 20-30 percent growth in hiring."
The main factors propelling the upbeat hiring sentiment include strong domestic demand coupled with country's fast economic growth as well as revival in the U.S. economy. Other key sectors expected to see strong hiring growth include telecom, engineering and real estate, the study said.
The study highlighted that in the banking sector there was a constant demand for banking and finance professionals and high quality customer-oriented services. The current "hot job" in the banking sector is that of relationship managers to provide advice and financial planning.
In the Business Outsourcing Services (BPO)sector, process managers are expected to be in high demand as the focus is on process improvement and cost efficiency.
"Sales and marketing executives are likely to be in hot demand with companies across sectors want to market themselves aggressively to expand their businesses," Karanth added.
The study also stated that attrition rates across various sectors are on the rise with the revival in the job market.
The banking and IT sectors are likely to see an attrition levels of 15-16 percent this year, while FMCG and telecom
Indian hackers' army to hack hostile nation's systems
India is all set to enter into the arena of cyber war. The government is forming an army of software professionals to hack computer systems of hostile nations. According to the proposal by government administrators, IT workers and ethical hackers, who sign up for the project will get protection from law.
The software professionals will have to use their expertise to breach the security walls of enemy systems.
In recent times, India faced a spate of assaults on its computer systems, and the government is worried about spying attempts from neighbouring countries like China and Pakistan. According to the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, a China-based group of hackers had conducted extensive spying operations in India, stealing defence ministry's confidential documents.
The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) along with Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) will be responsible for creating cyber-offensive capabilities, said the government proposal. NTRO uses to gather technical intelligence, while DIA compare inputs from the Navy, Army and Air Force.
Apart from gathering technical intelligence, NTRO will also suggest measures to ensure legal protection to recruits. The move is expected to persuade software professionals into joining the government group as under the Indian IT Act, hacking is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or carries a fine up to 2 lakh, or both.
According to Vikas Desai, lead technical lead of network security firm RSA, the government's efforts can be classified as ethical hacking, as many countries and organisations in the world have already adopted this infrastructure.
India is due to produce nearly 5.71 lakh technical graduates and postgraduates in 2010. Hence, recruitment may not be a problem, according to Nasscom.
11 and 13 year kids to be India's youngest MBAs
Neel Joshi, 13 and his brother Deep, 11, class eight and class six students of Thakur Vidya Mandir School at Kandivali East in Mumbai are on their way to become India's youngest MBA graduates as they have finished their first semester MBA with distinction from an institute affiliated to a U.S. varsity. The teen prodigies are pursuing their MBA from the Indian Management School and Research centre (IMSR) affiliated to the University of Northeast Virginia, reports Bangalore Mirror.
While Neel has cleared his first year in Finance Management with 91 percent, Deep has cleared the first semester of MBA in Operation Management by securing 75 percent.
It was a meeting with the representative of IMSR at an education fair, which helped them realize their dreams. "I had taken a risk in admitting the boys against all rules," admits Pravin Parmar, director, IMSR. "They have both scored very good marks and I am confident they will become the youngest MBAs in the country," he added.
"We had sought admission for MBA courses at the University of Mumbai and various other institutes in USA and UK. But everyone turned us down saying we were too young to enroll for management courses. They also told us we must approach them after post-graduation and gaining three years of working experience," says Neel.
Deep said, "I joined the institute but never worried about the results. I only aimed at studying management. My brother and I dream of getting a prize from President Pratibha Patil after we complete the course. I am also preparing for my MBA first year final exam which is scheduled in January."
The boys had exhibited extraordinary talents at their very young age. They could recite entire chapters from the Bhagvad Gita, Hanuman Chalisa and even the Rig Veda when they were in kindergarten. They have also shown their excellence in extracurricular activities such as carom in which they represent Air India at national level events. Neel wants to become a cardiac surgeon, while Deep wishes to be a pilot. The boys' father Ajit Joshi is a civil engineer.
"We had sought admission for MBA courses at the University of Mumbai and various other institutes in USA and UK. But everyone turned us down saying we were too young to enroll for management courses. They also told us we must approach them after post-graduation and gaining three years of working experience," says Neel.
Deep said, "I joined the institute but never worried about the results. I only aimed at studying management. My brother and I dream of getting a prize from President Pratibha Patil after we complete the course. I am also preparing for my MBA first year final exam which is scheduled in January."
The boys had exhibited extraordinary talents at their very young age. They could recite entire chapters from the Bhagvad Gita, Hanuman Chalisa and even the Rig Veda when they were in kindergarten. They have also shown their excellence in extracurricular activities such as carom in which they represent Air India at national level events. Neel wants to become a cardiac surgeon, while Deep wishes to be a pilot. The boys' father Ajit Joshi is a civil engineer.
UK preferred over U.S. by Indian students
It has emerged that UK has become the new favorite of Indian students flying abroad for higher studies. UK has upstaged U.S. as the favored destination for college campuses. Numbers suggest that more than twice number of students prefer UK over the U.S. reports Hemali Chhapia of The Times of India.
In the present year, 32,000 student visas were issued by U.S. and 57,500 by UK. While in 2009, the number of student visas issued by U.S. and UK stand at 34,000 and 27,000 respectively.
Australia, which once attracted many Indian students, has lost its charm due to the recent spate of racial attacks on Indians there.
The Council of Graduates Schools, an U.S. body, observes that there has been a decline of four percent in total enrollments among Indian graduates and 16 percent decline among newly enrolled Indians for the academic year of 2009/2010. The reason why this trend is on the rise could be that U.S. is more expensive than Europe and also there are shorter courses available outside of U.S.
The one-year business management course in UK has seen many takers in Indian students. This is followed by those wanting to pursue a post-graduate education in engineering and technology.
All said and done, U.S. still has the largest number of Indian students, over one lakh, in its university campuses.
Women better at multitasking than men
Reaffirming the age-old belief that men are incapable of doing more than one thing at once, a new study has shown that men really are worse at multitasking than women, although it does depend on the task.
Professor Keith Laws, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, who led the research, and colleagues found that when women and men work on a number of simple tasks - such as searching for a key or doing easy maths problems - at the same time, the women significantly outperformed the men.
Scientists believe that the results show that females are better able to reflect upon a problem, while continuing to juggle their other commitments, than men.
"We have all heard stories that either men can't multitask or that women are exceptionally good at multitasking," the Telegraph quoted Laws as saying. "But there didn't appear to be any empirical evidence for this. It was all based upon folklore and hearsay when I looked through the scientific literature," she added.
As part of the study, Laws gave 50 male and 50 female students eight minutes to perform three tasks at the same time: carrying out simple maths problems, finding restaurants on a map and sketching a strategy for how they would search for a lost key in an imaginary field.
As they performed the tasks, the volunteers also received a phone call that they could either chose to answer or not. If they did answer, they were given an additional general knowledge test while they continued to carry out their other activities. While women were able to perform well in all four activities at once, men performed, on average, worse when it came to planning to search for the key.
Professor Keith Laws, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, who led the research, and colleagues found that when women and men work on a number of simple tasks - such as searching for a key or doing easy maths problems - at the same time, the women significantly outperformed the men.
Scientists believe that the results show that females are better able to reflect upon a problem, while continuing to juggle their other commitments, than men.
"We have all heard stories that either men can't multitask or that women are exceptionally good at multitasking," the Telegraph quoted Laws as saying. "But there didn't appear to be any empirical evidence for this. It was all based upon folklore and hearsay when I looked through the scientific literature," she added.
As part of the study, Laws gave 50 male and 50 female students eight minutes to perform three tasks at the same time: carrying out simple maths problems, finding restaurants on a map and sketching a strategy for how they would search for a lost key in an imaginary field.
As they performed the tasks, the volunteers also received a phone call that they could either chose to answer or not. If they did answer, they were given an additional general knowledge test while they continued to carry out their other activities. While women were able to perform well in all four activities at once, men performed, on average, worse when it came to planning to search for the key.
Spain makes world's first robot with conscience
Spain has designed the world's first robot with its own "conscience" and "life", which will "entertain, teach and be a companion" to humans who purchase it.
The AISoy 1, which will go on sale in August, is the first social android developed by Spanish firm AISoy Robotics, which is now bringing its creation out of the laboratory.
"It almost seems like science fiction, but it's a reality," said Diego Garcia, one of the "fathers" of the robot and head of AISoy's product engineering and development division.
AISoy 1 was conceived to entertain and provide company to the user, but its main objective is "to live," just like any other being that "senses, has emotions and makes decisions".
At 25 cm in height and weighing 1.5 kg, the robot "is almost a living being. It has the same activity as a living being, it has its own autonomy and conscience", he said.
It also has a series of "basic needs, like nourishment and security, and other more advanced ones, like love, recognition, freedom and, above all, enjoying itself and getting along well".
In contrast to the available robots developed till date, its makeup does not consist of "a collection of limited actions or programmed responses. It's dynamic, it has its own life and, at times, it's unpredictable," said AISoy 1's designer.
The robot is capable of learning from experience and modifying "its behaviour, values and actions it can undertake at specific times," he said.
"If you take two AISoy 1's and leave them in two different families, within two months they will be totally different because they will have had different experiences," said Garcia.
Starting August, any family will be able to buy the robot, which is in the final phases of production, and it will be sold via the AISoy 1 website.
Although the price of the domestic robot has not yet been made public, the firm says that it will be "less costly" than alternative prototypes developed by other firms.
India unveils supercomputer Annapurna
India took yet another step forward in science and technology, launching its latest supercomputer 'Annapurna' at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) in Chennai.Atomic Energy Commission chairman Srikumar Banerjee unveiled the country's seventh fastest high-performance computation (HPC) cluster having 1.5 Tera Byte (TB) memory and 30 TB storage space cluster capacity.
Banerjee lauded the technical team behind the effort for creating the super computer in a completely non-commercial domain.
Complex issues ranging from biological applications and others could not have been approached in the absence of a supercomputer, he said.
"Among broad-based scientific institutions in India, the Annapurna cluster is the third fastest, ranking below the IISc Bangalore and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai," an IMSc release said.
The device will be used in simulations and numerical calculations in the areas of statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics among others, it added.
79K patents are pending with Indian Govt.
In an information revealed in the Parliament, there are about 79,000 applications seeking grant of patents pending in front of the government. Out of this, nearly a third of the applications are from mechanical engineering and chemicals segment.
To deal with this humongous number of patent requests, the government has created 200 posts for examining the applications.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma in his written reply to the Lok Sabha regarding the patent requests said, "As on 30th June, 78,792 patent applications are pending with the Indian Patent Office." He added that the reason for the steep number of requests pending is because there was a considerable amount of increase in the number of patent applications filed with the office after 2003-04.
"In order to dispose of the pending requests for examination, the government has created 200 new posts of Examiners of patents and designs", said Sharma.
Digital signals in, analog out from 2013 : TRAI
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed that, by December 2013, the broadcast signals in the country will be switched over from analog to digital, albeit in a phased manner.
TRAI Chairman J.S.Sarma said the final consultation paper on digitalisation will be released next week.
Sarma asked the industry to support for the switch-over. "We are forward looking and proactive on regulation on digitalisation," he said at a conference organised by CII.
Welcoming the decision, Amit Khanna, Chairman, Reliance Big Entertainment, said media companies have to transform from products to relationship with audience in the future. He predicted more event-based (FIFA World Cup, Avatar, 3 Idiots) things in the emerging digital world. "We are moving away from economy of attention to economy of in attention and there is too much distractions."
Speaking on the digitalization of Pay TV, Vikram Kaushik, Tata Sky Chief Executive, said, "The major challenge of digitalising is the fragmented economy, due to which the industry is losing large amounts of money. It is critical for proper implementation of digitalisation. It has to be mandated".
TRAI Chairman J.S.Sarma said the final consultation paper on digitalisation will be released next week.
Sarma asked the industry to support for the switch-over. "We are forward looking and proactive on regulation on digitalisation," he said at a conference organised by CII.
Welcoming the decision, Amit Khanna, Chairman, Reliance Big Entertainment, said media companies have to transform from products to relationship with audience in the future. He predicted more event-based (FIFA World Cup, Avatar, 3 Idiots) things in the emerging digital world. "We are moving away from economy of attention to economy of in attention and there is too much distractions."
Speaking on the digitalization of Pay TV, Vikram Kaushik, Tata Sky Chief Executive, said, "The major challenge of digitalising is the fragmented economy, due to which the industry is losing large amounts of money. It is critical for proper implementation of digitalisation. It has to be mandated".
Govt. selects Wipro to develop criminal tracking software
Government has selected Wipro Infotech to develop software for digitizing its crime and criminal tracking network system under the national e-governance plan. As the home ministry's software development agency, the company will link 14,000 police stations and 6,000 police offices across the country for tracking crime records on real-time basis in digital format.
"The system aims to create a nationwide networked infrastructure for IT-enabled criminal tracking system. Spanning across 35 states and union territories, it will link about 14,000 police stations and 6,000 higher police offices across the country," Wipro Vice-President Anand Sankaran said in a statement.
The company, however, did not specify the project cost, maintaining non-disclosure agreement with the ministry.
The ambitious project includes vertical connectivity of police units at various levels within the state and between states and union territories as well as horizontal connectivity, linking police functions at state and central levels to external entities.
As one of the largest e-governance projects in the country, the network system will also present a citizen-interface to provide basic services to citizens.
"As part of the scope, we will develop the core application software for states and another core application for the central government to digitize crime and criminal records," Sankaran pointed out.
The solution will be developed on multiple platforms to address functionality required at central and state levels.
"When implemented, the application will link the state crime records bureau with the national crime record bureau, thereby creating a database that can be accessed in real-time from any police station across the country," Sankaran noted.
The company will leverage its domain expertise and best practices to build the core application software for effective and efficient policing through adoption of e-governance principals.
"Given the current national security scenario, our solution is expected to enhance police efficiency in the detection and prevention of crimes," Sankaran added.
Government vertical head Ranbir Singh said the network system project was one more step towards enabling the government accelerate efforts in detecting and preventing crimes in the country.
"Wipro is already working with several state governments for e-enabling security and surveillance," Singh said.
"The system aims to create a nationwide networked infrastructure for IT-enabled criminal tracking system. Spanning across 35 states and union territories, it will link about 14,000 police stations and 6,000 higher police offices across the country," Wipro Vice-President Anand Sankaran said in a statement.
The company, however, did not specify the project cost, maintaining non-disclosure agreement with the ministry.
The ambitious project includes vertical connectivity of police units at various levels within the state and between states and union territories as well as horizontal connectivity, linking police functions at state and central levels to external entities.
As one of the largest e-governance projects in the country, the network system will also present a citizen-interface to provide basic services to citizens.
"As part of the scope, we will develop the core application software for states and another core application for the central government to digitize crime and criminal records," Sankaran pointed out.
The solution will be developed on multiple platforms to address functionality required at central and state levels.
"When implemented, the application will link the state crime records bureau with the national crime record bureau, thereby creating a database that can be accessed in real-time from any police station across the country," Sankaran noted.
The company will leverage its domain expertise and best practices to build the core application software for effective and efficient policing through adoption of e-governance principals.
"Given the current national security scenario, our solution is expected to enhance police efficiency in the detection and prevention of crimes," Sankaran added.
Government vertical head Ranbir Singh said the network system project was one more step towards enabling the government accelerate efforts in detecting and preventing crimes in the country.
"Wipro is already working with several state governments for e-enabling security and surveillance," Singh said.
Google to introduce multi-account sign-in
Users of Google services will be able to sign-in to different accounts in the same browser soon, as the company is rolling out multi-account sign-in to its users, reports Josh Lowensohn of cnet.
According to Google Operating System blog, the company is in the process of introducing a new feature that lets users cycle through up to three of their registered Google accounts without having to re-identify their credentials. It means that the user is allowed to sign in to more than one account using the same browser session. However, the user can only sign in to a maximum of three accounts at a time. Adding to it, users will be able to switch from one to another with a simple drop down menu.
The new system requires opting in from a user's Google account management page. Once enabled, the user can switch accounts in Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Code, and Google's Sites products through the use of a drop-down menu at the top right-hand corner of compatible Google sites.
There are many people out there complaining about the Firefox RAM Memory Bug. Lets get it straight. It’s not a bug. It’s part of the cache feature. This ‘feature’ is how the pages are cached in a tabbed environment.
To improve performance when navigating (studies show that 39% of all page navigations are renavigations to pages visited less than 10 pages ago, usually using the back button), Firefox implements a Back-Forward cache that retains the rendered document for the last five session history entries for each tab.
This is a lot of data. If you have a lot of tabs, Firefox’s RAM memory usage can climb dramatically. It’s a trade-off. What you get out of it is faster performance as you navigate the web.
Now a lot of us have found the ’secrets’ on how to manipulate settings in “about:config” to drop the memory usage as long as possible and to increase the speed at which Firefox loads sites. Read on to find out how to do this.
Remember: Firefox is the best internet browser available (in my opinion), and these tweaks below will make it even greater and faster. So enjoy!
Reduce the amount of RAM Firefox uses for it’s cache feature
Here’s how to do it:
1. Type “about:config” (no quotes) in the adress bar in the browser.
2. Find “browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewer”
3. Set it’s value to “0“;(Zero)
1. Type “about:config” (no quotes) in the adress bar in the browser.
2. Find “browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewer”
3. Set it’s value to “0“;(Zero)
Increase the Speed in Which Firefox loads pages
1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit Enter.
(Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipeliningit will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.)
(Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipeliningit will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.)
2. Alter the entries as follows:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 10.
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 10.
This means it will make 10 requests at once.
3. Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0“;.(Zero)
This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages faster now.
Optionally (for even faster web browsing) here are some more options for your about:config (you might have to create some of these entries by Right Click –> New– > Interger or String
Optionally (for even faster web browsing) here are some more options for your about:config (you might have to create some of these entries by Right Click –> New– > Interger or String
network.dns.disableIPv6: set “false”
“content.notify.backoffcount”: set “5“; (Five)
“plugin.expose_full_path”: set “true”.
“ui.submenuDelay”: set “0; (zero)
“content.notify.backoffcount”: set “5“; (Five)
“plugin.expose_full_path”: set “true”.
“ui.submenuDelay”: set “0; (zero)
Reduce RAM usage to 10mb when Firefox is minimized:
This little hack will drop Firefox’s RAM usage down to 10 Mb when minimized:
1. Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter “config.trim_on_minimize”. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter “config.trim_on_minimize”. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.
These simple tweaks will make your web browsing with Mozilla Firefox 2-3 times faster and easier. And I think they are fairly easy to apply. Enjoy!
credits.
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Epic Browser now comes to India! A Bangalore based IT firm has come up with this concept of ‘browser for Indians’. They have launched Epic browser which said to have extremely good features like fast browsing, Indian language typing, built in cricket score widgets and more.
Download this Browser here http://www.epicbrowser.com/
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Epic Browser
Contributed by Vibin :
Epic Browser now comes to India! A Bangalore based IT firm has come up with this concept of ‘browser for Indians’. They have launched Epic browser which said to have extremely good features like fast browsing, Indian language typing, built in cricket score widgets and more.
What’ s new in Epic Browser apart from other Browsers:
- The makers claimed that it is the world’s only antivirus browser.
- Browser has an inbuilt addon to detect websites that are dangerous.
- It is the first ever web browser from India.
- Anti-phishing protection – a big bold domain name on the address bar.
- You can type in 12 different Indian languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu and Punjabi.
- In the browser’s sidebar you can edit text, read news, view videos and pictures.
- Having faster browsing and faster downloads
Download this Browser here http://www.epicbrowser.com/
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